Sunday, December 29, 2013

Best Out of Town "Local" Restaurant 2013 - Stratford's Monforte on Wellington

Stratford, Ontario

Best Out of Town "Local" Restaurant 2013Best Out of Town New Restaurant 2013

Guilty Pleasures at Stratford’s Monforte on Wellington Redux

By BRYAN LAVERY

Another renaissance of sorts is now afoot just off the town square in the premises formerly occupied by the Evergreen Terrace on Wellington Street in Stratford.The new Monforte on Wellington is a casual seasonally –inspired osteria featuring an ever-changing selection of artisanal cheeses, charcuterie, and pastas, salads, soups, preserves, pickles and other signature specialties, prepared by chef Phil Philips and Monforte’s culinary team.

Chef Philip’s worked in the kitchen at Bijou and has trained under the tutelage of Jamie Kennedy. The kitchen pushes the farm-to-fork philosophy even further, and develops a synergy between the local terroir and the diner, no doubt, inspired by the resolute cheesemaker, Ruth Klahsen, whose deep-rooted affection for all things sustainable, local and artisanal seems to continue to both fortify and nourish her creative drive and innovative entrepreneurism.

Osteria(oh-stay-REE-ah) is the Italian term for the most casual and down-to-earth amongst restaurant classifications. Traditionally an osteria provided lodging and served simple and inexpensive food and wine. In Italy, travelling through the regions of Emilia Romagna, Molise, Umbria and Abruzzi is where I first became enamored with this style of restaurant. The osterias I gravitated towards in Italy were mainly located in the countryside and were informal gathering places with certain precepts that almost always held true: short menus, local, seasonal house-made specialties, and sometimes but not always, meals are served at communal tables.

Crafted by architectural students from the University of Toronto, the furniture is made from reclaimed wood and donated palletes creating a hand-crafted décor from mostly recycled and repurposed materials. The brightly coloured upholstered benches add a touch of pizzazz and accentuate the whitewashed walls. The ceilings are high with interesting spider-like fixtures with bare bulbs and there is a large picture window facing the street. The kitchen is open to the dining room and there is a passageway beside the kitchen that leads to a 35-seat courtyard with umbrellaed tables for al fresco dining.

The 35-seat main dining room has a sophisticated straightforward charm with a “We’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden” vibe. There are two or three main chalkboard features each day, prepared from what is seasonal, local, foraged and fermented.Many of the products are made in-house or sourced from community farms and artisans.On one visit we sat on the terrace and the kitchen staff delivered a pair of cheese and charcuterie boards. They provided us with a friendly in- depth tutorial about the provenance of each ingredient.

The rich and flavourful charcuterie included: a mound of perfect fatty cubed pancetta, a succulent slab of savoury headcheese (which brought back memories of my grandmother’s kitchen), and farmer David E. M. Martin’s pancetta served with house- made crackers and tiny pots of honey, mustard and red pepper jelly. A selection of luscious, earthy and creamy cheese on offer included: Piacere – Monforte’s own take on the classic French cheese Fleur du Maquis, TRUE BLUE made with Sunnivue Farm’s water buffalo milk was firm, salty and herbaceous and a creamy Black Sheep rolled in vegetable ash.Klahsen’s philosophy is to “use only seasonal milk from humanely treated animals” for her cheese.The cheese selection varies depending on availability.

I ordered a grilled cheese sandwich with both fresh cheese curd and Paridiso, a variation on the classic Italian Taleggio, this semi-soft, washed rind cheese has a piquant bite. Wild leeks, variously called ramps, made a delicious and pungent pesto that was the perfect accompaniment to the sandwich. Dandelion greens with rhubarb vinaigrette, Soiled Reputation organic greens with wild leek vinaigrette and a silky asparagus soup have also vied for my attention.

We loved the rich, buttery water buffalo ice cream that can be ordered with either a demi-tasse of chocolate sauce or espresso and is served in artfully mismatched bowls with melt-in-your-mouth chocolate chip cookies.

The restaurant is BYOW with a corkage fee of $15.00, or if you order a glass of VQA wine they might bring you a full bottle and charge you for what you drink. The wine selection is limited and there is a good selection of craft beers. They retain a strong local focus on drinks to keep them consistent with the kitchen’s offerings. We also loved the “Fizzy Water” which was 50 cents a glass.

There is an area at the front entrance that retails Monforte cheeses, Bauman honey, preserves and other interesting jarred goods- to- go. “This kind of brings things full circle for us,” says Klahsen referring to the restaurant. “For example, when we make cheese we have leftover whey, which we feed to pigs, which can become charcuterie. And the same farmer who raises the pigs grows wheat, which we can make into crackers.”

The osteria opened in Stratford at the beginning of April, earlier in June, Monforte opened its first stand-alone store in Toronto in Liberty Village. If you like ethical farm-to-table dining that won’t break the bank, Monforte on Wellington, although in its fledgling days is well positioned to be a hands-down frontrunner in Stratford’s culinary scene.

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Ontario Culinary Tourist

I am a
writer, culinary columnist and food and social media editor in London and
Toronto, Ontario. A chef, former restaurateur and hospitality consultant with
over thirty years in the industry, my work has appeared in a variety of print
and on-line publications. I also freelance written editorial and visual content
for tourism and corporate clients.